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Visible Service LLC,
doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...
Visible by Verizon, and known simply as Visible, is an American all-digital prepaid
mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...
(MVNO) and brand wholly-owned by
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
. Launched in 2018, the carrier offers services on the Verizon network, with all services delivered via
e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
and
mobile apps A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
using
generative artificial intelligence Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models Machine learning, learn the underlyin ...
, and no
brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...
retail presence. Visible competes against
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...
's Metro by T-Mobile,
AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
's Cricket Wireless, and
EchoStar EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its ...
's
Boost Mobile DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, fourth largest wirele ...
in the major carrier prepaid segment.


History

Visible was launched by Verizon on May 10, 2018 without any prior announcement, promoting an unlimited plan for $40 per-month. At launch, the service was only available by invitation, and at the time, required users to register via the Visible app or its website. Once registered, Visible would send users a SIM card the next day and once installed, can access the network. In addition, only unlocked phones were available to be used at launch. In 2020, Verizon launched Yahoo! Mobile, an MVNO co-branded with the then-Verizon owned
Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
web portal; the service was identical to that of Visible, but with the addition of Yahoo! Mail Pro. The service was discontinued on August 31, 2021, with customers being directed to Visible. In May 2021, long-time Verizon executive Angie Klein became CEO of Visible. In November 2022, following its acquisition of
TracFone Wireless TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American wireless prepaid service provider. It is a mobile virtual network operator offering Prepaid mobile phone, prepaid and no-contract services on the Verizon (mobile network), Verizon network under multi ...
, Verizon's prepaid and value brands were brought under a new Verizon Value division led by Klein. In June 2022, Visible was rebranded as Visible by Verizon.


Services

Visible is positioned as an all-digital MVNO on the
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
network, with most business conducted online and via the Visible
mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
, and no physical retail presence or
call centers A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...
. Customers can pay upfront per-month or for a year of service. Visible offers "basic" and "premium" unlimited plans, with the "premium" plan differentiated by 50 GB of "prioritized" data access on the Verizon 5G
ultra-wideband Ultra-wideband (UWB, ultra wideband, ultra-wide band and ultraband) is a radio technology that can use a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditional applicat ...
network, expanded roaming (including 2 GB per-day of data in Canada and Mexico), an extra line for a
smartwatch A smartwatch is a portable wearable computer that resembles a wristwatch. Most modern smartwatches are operated via a touchscreen, and rely on mobile apps that run on a connected device (such as a smartphone) in order to provide core functions. ...
, and the ability to purchase a per-day "Global Pass" for unlimited roaming and 2 GB of data in 140 countries. The service also allows customers to refer friends to receive a $20 credit. Until August 2022, Visible allowed customers to add additional lines of basic service for $25 per-month ("Party Pay"); the cost of a basic plan was later lowered to $25 per-month in 2023.


Marketing

Early promotion for Visible included storefronts in several cities decorated with solid blue " 404 Store Not Found" signage, alluding to the carrier's lack of
brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...
presence. In 2019, Visible ran a stunt offering free massages at
Denver Union Station Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. It is located at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in the present-day LoDo district and includes the historic station house, a modern open-air train sh ...
, after having run a
mobile billboard A mobile billboard is a device used for advertising on the sides of a truck, trailer, bike, or other vehicle that is typically mobile. Mobile billboards are a form of transit media; static billboards and mall/airport advertising fall into this ...
that contained the typo "unlimited massages". In 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Visible ran the campaign "#VisibleActsofKindness", and launched a wider television and digital media campaign to promote its services.


Customer complaints

The company has faced numerous complaints since its inception related to its lackluster or non-existent customer support, which is only available via chat through their Android or
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
app, and social media platforms
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
and
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. The company has no phone number, and thus no customer support via telephone. Customer complaints range from weeks long waits for
porting In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...
in/out to complete, SIM/
eSIM An eSIM (embedded SIM) is a form of SIM card that is embedded directly into a device as software installed onto a eUICC chip. First released in March 2016, eSIM is a global specification by the GSMA that enables remote SIM provisioning; end ...
provisioning issues, loss of service for multiple days, failing to honor promotional deals, and charges to credit cards without services provided. On April 28, 2021, the
Better Business Bureau The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is an American private, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization founded in 1912. BBB's self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 92 independently incorporated local BBB organizati ...
issued an alert posted for the company, citing a pattern of consumer complaints that the company was unresponsive to their request for assistance regarding cellular service and billing and advising consumers to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection. In a September 20, 2022 article in Fierce Wireless, the company admitted problems with its customer service model.


References


External links

* {{US mobile phone companies Verizon services Wireless carriers 2018 establishments in the United States Mobile virtual network operators